In the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and an Evolved Packet System (EPS) network that is defined by the 3GPP, an operator requires a gateway to perform network management and control on user equipment (UE) based on a location of the UE.
Currently, in 2nd generation (2G) and 3rd generation (3G) network architectures, an operator generally requires an Internet Protocol (IP) address to be assigned to a user based on a location area of UE, that is, requires an IP address of UE to correspond in real time to an area in which the UE is located, so that an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) and a Mobile Station International ISDN Number (MSISDN) of the user can be found according to the IP address of the user; further, a network device can perform network management according to the IP address of the UE. During live network operation, a Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN), serving as a core network element, not only can carry signaling but also can carry data, and can manage location information of the UE, that is, in the 2G/3G network architecture, the SGSN may collect performance statistics on data traffic according to the location information of the UE.
However, in a current EPS network, a core network lacks a network element that performs centralized management on UE based on a geographical area range.